Call of Duty Advanced Warfare Storyline Trailer is Brilliant

We’re big storyline and narrative junkies, so at times the first-person-shooter genre can feel tired and repetitive. After watching the latest Call of Duty Advanced Warfare storyline trailer, we’re a little more hopeful that Sledgehammer Games can turn things around.

Battlefield 4 and Call of Duty: Ghosts certainly have narrative threads, and even their DLC has continued that trend. In fact, those two games really seemed to turn things around for the FPS storytelling scene. But this latest COD: Advanced Warfare video shows even more of a dedication to plot, which frankly one of the biggest differentiators between FPS games any more.

It makes sense to see Sledgehammer Games devoting so much time to plot. One of the biggest draws of the initial Advanced Warfare announcement videos was the fact that Kevin Spacey has an acting role in the game. Spacey wouldn’t be involved if he were just another pretty face; the dude’s an actor, not a model. Without a storyline and plot, there’s no need to act.

Well guess what: Spacey looks to be turning in a nice little acting gig here, and it could pave the way for even more FPS storyline attention in the future.

Spacey can play kick-ass heroes and even spicier bad guys, but from this new Call of Duty Advanced Warfare storyline trailer it’s hard to tell exactly which role he’s playing. He’s certainly power hungry in this role, but is it in the protagonist or villain sense?

If Advanced Warfare has players acting in a more villainous role, that’d be a big switch for the franchise and open it up to many more narrative threads. It could also have gameplay and level-design implications, as bad guys seldom play by the rules and fight via straight-ahead (read: “corridor”) methods.

At any rate, the gameplay trailer above shows Sledgehammer is paying a ton of attention to the COD Advanced Warfare plot, which is great to see. We’re eager to see more of the game and learn more about the story as Advanced Warfare approaches its Nov. 4 release date.